Thanks Oscar and morning crew. Half-time round-up: Australian...

Thanks Oscar and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Australian shares continued to back off last week's 21-month high following disappointing profit announcements from Brambles and WorleyParsons ahead of a US market holiday tonight.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was down 25 points or 0.4% at 5781 and on track for a second straight loss after peaking at 5833 on Thursday. Industrials was the worst of the sectors, falling 2.4%. Also weak: energy -1.3%, consumer staples -0.9% and materials -0.6%.

While WOR and BXB felt the wrath of disappointed investors this morning, the general trend has been positive and the likes of NHF, GEM and BSL rallied following updates.

"So far so good," UBS strategist David Cassidy told Fairfax. "We have so far seen good and bad results in both globally/US orientated and as well as domestically focused companies. The ex-resources EPS growth pick-up forecasts is much more modest but improving nonetheless."

China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.17% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.22%. Japan's Nikkei gave up 0.39%. Dow futures were off seven points or 0.03% ahead of tonight's Presidents' Day holiday.

Crude oil futures drifted three cents or 0.06% lower this morning to US$53.37 a barrel. Gold futures declined $4.90 or 0.4% to US$1,234.20 an ounce. The dollar was buying 76.66 US cents.


XJO looked due a retrace after two weeks of solid gains and a new 2017 high last week. The US holiday tonight offers an excuse. Presidents Day... Can you imagine a Prime Ministers' Day here? Me neither. Trading: feeling slow and dullwitted after a 'big' weekend. Got a wage from KSN. Added a few to the watchlist. Will try harder tomorrow once the braincells have recovered.